Luke Cage – Season 1, Episode 3: Who’s Gonna Take The Weight? (2016) – Review

After the last episode managed to get the Luke Cage experience down cold, it’s now up to the rest of the season to maintain it, and what better way to churn up that superhero momentum than to focus on our unbreakable hero finally striding out into the streets of Harlem and attempting to clean them up with some literal strong-arming. It’s here that we truly get to reap the benefits of that all-encompassing image that only gets more vital as time goes on: a black man impervious to gun crime. But beyond the fact that our hero is immune to various calibres of gunfire, we find that he’s now ready to step up and purge Harlem of crime in the memory of recently slain father figure, Henry “Pop” Hunter after years of hiding his abilities.
However, this wouldn’t be a Marvel/Netflix show without an opposing force that wants the same thing, but is prepared to get it by any means necessary. No, I’m not talking about Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes; I think it’s time for us to take a closer look at Mariah Dillard…

After placing himself on the bench while tending bars in Hell’s Kitchen and sweeping hair in Harlem, Luke Cage realises that it’s time to get in the game after the overzealous actions of an excitable gangster tragically took the life of Pop. A friendly pillar of the community, Pop was shot down after trying to put together a parley to save the life of overstepping youth, Chico, who had been part of a trio who thought it would be a great idea to rob local Kingpin, Cottonmouth.
While I genuinely thought Chico had been fatally torn up in the salvo that killed Pop, it turns out he was merely hospitalised and we soon find him nervously fielding questions from Misty Knight and her partner, Scarfe. However, while Chico remains tight as a clam, he eventually spills all to Luke, who needs to know how Cottonmouth’s operation works in order to hit the gangster as hard as he can in the place where it hurts the most – his wallet. Raiding his money drops, but leaving the illegal money for cops to find, Cage is softening up Cottonmouth’s operation just enough for all the funds to be transfered to the fortified Crispus Attucks building for safe keeping. But when it arrives, he springs into action, using his durable hide and super strength to bulldoze his way in, beat the crap out of everyone, and make off with a large pile of money.
His aim? Cage hopes to not only hurt the operations of Cottonmouth and his corrupt counsel-woman cousin, Mariah Dillard, but he hopes to use the cash to keep Pop’s bullet ridden barber shop afloat and help a few others with their financial woes. However, despite trying to frame the raid on rival gang boss Domingo, matters are undone somewhat when Chico finally grows a conscience and goes to the cops. Unfortunately for everyone involved (and especially for Chico) it seems that Scarfe is as corrupt as they come, and after murdering his wannabe informant, he delivers news to Cottonmouth about who really put a dent in his operation. Cottonmouth’s reaction proves to be fittingly explosive…

We’re only three episodes in and it seems that the neo-blaxploitation vibes the show was hoping to evoke are still firing on all cylinders. I was worried that after the huge moment of killing off Pop, the show would take an early time-out to let that death percolate, but thankfully the powers that be have recognised that it’s in their best interests to seize the day and capitalise on the moment. Yes, there’s plenty of eulogising of the fallen pillar of the community, but the episode is far too smart to spend it wallowing in grief when there’s far more valuable ways to utilise it. Remember, in the short time it’s been on, one of Luke Cage’s greatest assets is the sense of community the show puts out that connects virtually everyone together, no matter which side of the law they fall on – and Pop connected everybody.
This provides an organic and convenient way (not for Pop, obviously) to bring a lot of characters face to face and have confrontations about the big picture. For a start, it’s always a good idea to get your hero and villain together for a pow-wow and while Cage and Stokes have met a few times before, they’re now on far equal footing as they discuss Cornell paying for Pop’s funeral with barely concealed threats. With every episode, Mahershala Ali is getting ever cosier in the skin of Cottonmouth and the more stress the gang boss gets put under, the more fun the actor is obviously having, which proves to be a remarkably good counter to Mike Colter’s clench-jawed righteousness. In fact, by the end of the episode, both characters have gotten to fully embrace their character’s comic book nature by forging full-tilt into full-blown heroism and villainy. Cage gets to go on a cool, superhero rampage, busting up crooks and bending car doors around them in a manner that may not match the scope of the MCU movies, but still gets the point across. However, on the other hand, Cottonmouth gets to retort by dropping subtlety and ends the episode by shooting an actual fucking rocket into a Chinese restaurant while his enemy is chowing down on dinner and it continues to perfectly exaggerate the blaxploitation vibe with superhero bombast.

However, as cool as this all is, the supporting characters are also undergoing intriging changes of their own. Take Frank Whaley’s cynical detective Scarfe, for example – I don’t think anyone’s overly surprised that he’s turned out to be rotten, but rather than just selling info to Cottonmouth, he takes it upon himself to murder notorious loose-end, Chico, by throttling him to death with a necktie, which is way more dramatic than just being on a criminal’s payroll. Similarly, Alfre Woodard’s Mariah is proving to be one to watch as she seems to have the same warped views on preserving a city as Daredevil’s Wilson Fisk. She genuinely seems to love Harlem and wants to preserve both the community and her place in it, but the fact that she’s willing to allow her cousin to use any force necessary to keep the money flowing makes her both an incredible hypocrite and extremely dangerous. Still, while they both operate in the shadows, thankfully the show has allowed Misty Knight to finally use those “superior” detective skills she’s supposed to have and figure out that Cage has powers. However, where the character has weirdly failed put two and two together in the past after seeing bullet holes in Lukes clothes but not in his skin (while living in a world where the Hulk exists, no less); thankfully she’s catching on, but this is thankfully diffused by the fact that Simone Missick is given more chances to flesh out the iconic, destined to be one-armed, detective by having her deliver stories from her past which go even further to create that sense of community the show does so well to cultivate.

Another super-stong episode arrives courtesy of Guillermo Navarro – frequent cinematographer to both Guillemero Del Torro and Robert Rodriguez – and he takes that blaxploitation motif and brings it deeper into the world of superheroes than ever before by letting both it’s hero and villain fully cut loose. However, while its great to watch Luke Cage haul off on some fools and Cottonmouth retaliate with some heavy ordinance, it’s the changes in the supporting cast who are starting to really deliver the sense of community that the show us excelling in.
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Luke Cage – Season 1, Episode 2: Code Of The Streets (2016) – Review

Three seasons into Netflix’s Marvel universe have already taught me to be somewhat wary. While Daredevil and Jessica Jones both had dizzying highs that genuinely could be hailed for moving the superhero genre into bold, new directions, their shows have also been mired by some pretty confounding pacing that repeatedly would cut off the season’s momentum at the weirdest moments. Simply put, while I’ve grown to be immensely fond of what the Neflix’s Marvel side hustle has given us, I’ve already learned that a season highpoint is usually temporary.
So it’s with mixed feelings that I have to say that Luke Cage’s second episode is precisely what I’d want a Luke Cage show to be. After the scene setting of episode 1, the show has already settled us into its world nicely and now promises to give us the full, Power Man treatment. But here’s my issue: if a show in this notoriously inconsistent universe peaks in its second episode, is the show going to be able to keep it up for another eleven episodes?

In the aftermath of the botched hijacking of Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes’ arms deal, all hands are on deck to locate the final member of the trio that stole a sizable amount of cash. While one member was shot on the scene and another was captured and beaten to death by Cottonmouth himself, everyone has feelers out to lay their hands on the final member, Chico. Stokes obviously has his goons – Tone and Shades – out looking for him, and detective Misty Knight and her cynical partner, Scarfe, are also beating the street in order to close the case; but the one with the most skin in the game is Pop.
After reforming himself after a decade in prison, Pop has ensured that his barber shop is “Switzerland” to the various townsfolk on both sides of the law and as Chico and his now-dead friends used to hang out there, he just wants the kid to be safe. Knowing that Luke Cage popped his superhero cherry last night and saved a Chinese restaurant from some money collecting thugs, Pop calls in a favour and tasks the unbreakable man with locating Chico in order to parley some sort of deal with Cottonmouth. Slowly growing more eager to head out onto the streets and do some good, Cage agrees, but unbeknownst to him, events have been set in motion that is about to spell disaster.
As everyone looking for Chico sets foot in Pop’s barber shop sooner or later, the various groups on both sides of the law soon start to get acquainted with one another, but it’s Cage who mamages to find the kid first and convince him to come back in. However, it’s tough to keep secrets in Harlem for long and after Tone gets wind of Chico’s location, he decides to take matters violently into his own hands. But when the bullets stop, the terrible ramifications light a fire under Luke to set things right and look into just how deep the bond between Stokes and his city council woman cousin, Mariah, truly is.

I’ve never actually read a solo Luke Cage comic before, but I’d mostly become familiar with the character thanks to Brian Michael Bendis’ use of him in both his Jessica Jones titles and the New Avengers, however, if I had to imagine how I would picture a modern, live action Luke Cage playing on screen, it would totally be exactly like “Code Of The Streets”. While it may admittedly be a little short on moments where it’s title character stretches his mighty sinews and slap some street thugs around, but when it comes to letting this corner of the MCU naturally breathe, it’s nigh-on perfect. Obviously, the entire point of it is to galvanise our hero into action by building up to a tragedy that’ll give him the push he needs to fully embrace his destiny, but the way the episode goes about it means that it’s main cast – plus a few pleasant additions (hi, Turk) – all get plenty of screentime to further their arcs.
To strip it to its basics, Code Of The Streets covers the basic beats of a superhero motivational arc. The hero starts off reluctant, unwilling to ply his skills toward making things better, but thanks to a tragic death that probably could have been avoided his he’d blossomed quicker, he realises that his gift of shrugging off bullets has to be channeled into something more selfless. However, when you add the various layers that the showrunners have already put into place, everything comes alive and much like how Daredevil’s strengths lay within it’s gritty crime operatics and Jessica Jones played into feminine fears of toxic masculinity, Luke Cage’s crowning feature is making Harlem itself a living breathing character which gives it’s varied cast plenty of room to move around in. There’s also that welcome dip into black culture too, that not only gives us a Faith Evans performance at Harlem’s Paradise, but we also get an intriguing conversation where Cage and Pop name drop black, literary, crime writing greats such as Chester Himes and Walter Mosley. Not only does it aid the authenticity of the show, but it’s a nifty way to clue unfamiliar viewers into elements of black culture that could prove to be the seed to aid people to explore further.

Beyond the cultural aspect, I was genuinely floored that the show would kill Frankie Faison’s Pop so soon into the season, but even though the show has him go through the same ordeal as the Wayne parents or Uncle Ben to motivate the lead, at least the show manages to flesh him out a little more before an overzealous Tone lights up Pop’s barbershop in order to get at Chico. But with the deepening of Pop’s history, we also find that the episode uses it to enrich everything else – obviously, he’s something of a mentor to Luke, but when we delve into Pop’s past we find that he actually came up through the streets with Connell and Chico’s father. Further more, he also has a preexisting relationship with Misty as everyone in Harlem growing up knew him and we also discover that the multi-talented detective knows her way around a basketball court too.
However, the most important thing about Pop getting popped is how it sets both the hero and the villain on their respective courses. Cage is still as proud as ever, stumbling across Mariah Dillard’s involvement and intimidating a street punk who addresses him with the n-word (Cage hates the n-word); but it’s Mahershala Ali’s Stokes who gets fired up the most, realising that his underling overstepped his bounds and course correcting by hurling him off the nearest roof. However, while there’s a couple of minor logic issues (with the Avengers being public knowledge, and Misty being a detective and all, surely she should be able to figure out that Luke has powers instantly) and Netflix’s inability to properly plot out their Marvel seasons for the full thirteen episodes looms large, right now Luke Cage is operating at full strength.

While I have to say that Luke Cage potentially peaking so early would be considered a win for other shows, we’ll have to see whether it can keep that momentum, or ends up crashing out by the midway point. However, this shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that Code Of The Streets is a near-perfect showing for Marvel’s hero of Harlem and the world that surrounds him.
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Luke Cage – Season 1, Episode 1: Moment Of Truth (2016) – Review

It’s worth mentioning that in only three seasons of television, the Netflix arm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had managed to deliver more diversity in its lead characters than the entire MCU had in the eight years since Robert Downey Jr. smugly announced he was Iron Man. Just take a quick run down the list: Daredevil’s super senses may massively compensate for the fact that he’s blind, but he’s still disabled. Similarly, Jessica Jones was headlining her own self titled series years before we saw the words Captain Marvel on a movie poster and finally, while Black Panther and Sam Wilson becoming Captain America may have set a great many things right within the MCU, Netflix had already said a fair few things about black superheroes thanks to the 2016 release of Luke Cage. But while it’s all very well for a show to delve deep into complex social matters, does it still manage to find that all important balance between gritty, urban commentary and sock-em’-on-the-jaw superheroics?

In the wake of his introduction in Jessica Jones, we find super strong, super durable Luke Cage back in Harlem and still laying low despite working multiple jobs to get by. When he isn’t sweeping hair at the barbershop owned by ex-gangster Henry “Pop” Hunter, he’s washing dishes behind the scenes at Harlem’s Paradise, the prospering nightclub belonging to crime boss Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, and while you may be wondering why a man with superpowers is reduced to doing such remedial jobs, all Luke worries about is keeping his head down and remaining true to his moral beliefs.
However, as he just wants to make rent and keep his pride, we see that the sprawling world in which he lives is about to get shaken up after a couple of youths from the area think it’s a good idea to jack an arms deal going on between Stokes’ men and neighbouring gang leader Domingo Colon. The resulting fallout not only creates tension between the criminal organisations and creates a cash flow problem that trickles down to Stokes’ cousin, New York City Council member, Mariah Dillard, but the people above Cottonmouth send Herman “Shades” Alverez in to get things back on track.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the law, NYPD detective Misty Knight is investigating the bloody fall-out of the arms raid and while two of the offending kids are rapidly taken out of the picture by various means, the third, Chico, is still in the wind with the rest of the money. But what does any of this have to do with Luke Cage? Well, not a damn thing if he has anything to say about it – but after a one night dalliance with Knight and an altercation with Dillard’s men about squeezing locals for money, it seems that despite his desire to be left alone, Harlem need a hero to hire.

While Netflix’s Daredevil gave us a sprawling crime epic and Jessica Jones put a superhero spin on psycho thrillers while pulling no punches about the female experience and toxic relationships, it seems that the first season of Luke Cage is looking to merge the two. Even as early as the first episode, the show fully places both a swaggering crime boss and a corrupt political official front and centre with Mahershala Ali’s Cottonmouth and Alfre Woodard Mariah Dillard jumping through the typically stressful hoops that come with trying to hold together a criminal empire within the MCU. But beyond all the crime stuff, the show is obviously incredibly enthusiastic about bringing the black experience to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ways we’ve never seen it before, as the showrunners load up every frame with references to the Harlem culture.
Obviously, the entire show plays on a sort of neo-Blaxploitation vibe, which isn’t surprising considering the character originally spawned from the explosion of such movies as Shaft, Foxy Brown, Super Fly and the like, but beyond that, the camera lingers on various black literature laying in various apartments, concentrates on using music by black artists pounding over the speakers (every episode is named for a song title by hip hop duo Gang Starr) and frequently has characters openly discussing race in multiple scenes. If you wanted more black representation in superhero media, the makers of Luke Cage seem more than willing to go all in.

However, while the above is undoubtedly important, it’s all going to be wasted somewhat if the show it’s contained in doesn’t hold interest; but while the image of a law abiding black man being impervious to bullets is something of a powerful image (even more so in the subsequent wake of BLM), the first episode of Luke Cage’s solo show actually goes a little slow on the heroics, hired or otherwise. Obviously, we have an entire world to surround Mike Colter’s Cage with, be it the aforementioned antagonists, or the likes of Frankie Faison’s kindly Pop or Simone Missick’s stand out, Misty Knight; however, there’s a feeling that anyone leaping onto this show without watching any of the previous superhero seasons may feel that Cage himself is too much of an enigma. While it’s refreshing to see a black hero not be fueled by bombast, but instead move with stoic dignity, the fact that a good portion of his past had already been touched upon in Jessica Jones means that the whole business of his murdered wife, Reva, is frequently referenced but never explained. Similarly, it’s strange to see Cage, who has gone from running his own bar to slumming in barber shops and washing dishes, now have way more of a stand-off attitude than he did in that previous show and it’s almost as if the show has regressed Cage a little to give him more of an arc to play with here.
Still, as first episodes go, it’s as reliably solid as Cage’s epidermis. Everything is lit in warm, golden hues; the score is sublime; I love the opening titles and we even get far more overt references to the greater MCU (street sellers are hocking DVD footage of the battle from the Avengers); but while the show is taking its time to bring out the hero in our lead, it’s going great guns when it comes to fleshing out its villains. In fact, the shot of Cottonmouth standing in front of a painting of Biggie Smalls with the picture’s crown looking like it’s sitting on his head may actually be the most iconic villain shot in MCU history. Still, before the episode comes to an end, we get to see Cage do his stuff and take out a bunch of thugs; but while I don’t think the sight of someone breaking their fist on Cage’s jaw will ever get dull, Luke seems to be overwhelmed by the numerous introductions of his own cast.

A strong opening for Luke Cage’s solo show gives us plenty new characters to catch our attention, with Harlem itself almost taking the standout lead role. But while the premiere works admirably hard to engrain black culture into every single shot, it’s lead seems strangely passive for a character that should’ve hit the ground running after being introduced in a previous show.
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